Compress for steel shavings



Oct. 18, 1938. J. G. MARONEY ET AL COMPRESS FOR STEEL SHAVINGS 2 sheets-sheet 1 Filed May 24, 1937 INVENTORS JOHN G. MARONEY JACK I. WILLFONG BY 7? ATTORNEY Get. 18, 1938. J.- G. MARONEY ET AL COMPRESS FOR STEEL SHAVINGS 2 Sheets-Sheefi 2 Filed May 24, 1937 INVENTORS JOHNGMARO/VU BY JHCKI W/ LLFO/V (km/M ATTQRNEY Patented Oct. 18, 1938 UNITED STATES COMPRESS FOR STEEL SHAVINGS 'John G. Maroney, Lacanada, and Jack I. Willfong, Montebello, Calif.

Application May 24, 1937, Serial No. 144,482

4 Claims.

This invention relates to machines and methods for compacting steel and other metal turnings, shavings and the like into a rigid mass.

1 The main objects of this invention are to provide means for forming rigid, compact billets from metal turnings and the like; to provide means for both annealing and compressing metal turnings so that billets formed thereby will be commercially useful and of good market value, and

to provide a durable machin of simple construction which will be capable of continuous operais shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the feeder, annealing furnace, compress and cut-off means with sections broken out to reduce the over-all length.

Fig. 2 is a View in side elevation of the same.

3 is an enlarged, thin, sectional view taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line l-- l of Fig. 1, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows.

Fig. 5 is a View in elevation of an optional design of compress rolls.

Heretofore there has been a great economic waste in the metal working art which was occasioned by the fact that enormous tonnage of valuable metal is converted into shavings in machine shops and like places and these shavings or turnings have, to a large extent, been waste.

Steel shavings from lathes and the like are ordinarily a tangled mass which have been extremely difilcult to handle and practically impossible to charge into furnaces. The result has been that these turnings, although representing hundreds of thousands of dollars of good steel,

have been discarded and not utilized for any useful, commercial purpose.

We have found by experimentation that useful billets cannot be formed merely by compression of the shavings or turnings for the reason that billets formed in such manner are brittle and when subjected to rough handling, will shatter and break into many pieces. We have discovered, however, that if these steel shavings and turnings are first annealed and then compressed into a rigid mass, sections may be severed to form billets which are tough and which may be readily handled, transported and charged into furnaces and for that reason have good commercial value.

In the construction shown in the drawings, the

improved machine comprises an endless belt con veyor, generally designated 6, formed of a plurality of articulated metal plates preferably constructed by riveting or otherwise rigidly securing the metal plates to-the links of a chain 1 which passes over sprocket wheels 8 and 9. The sprock et wheels 8 and 9 are secured to shafts I0 and M respectively which are journaled in horizontally spaced relation on a supporting framework E2. Idler rollers l3 are provided for supporting the belt on the lower side during its return and the upper side or loaded side'of the belt is supported by a pair of laterally spaced railsl4, the underside of the belt plates being provided with wear blocks l5 for sliding on therails 14.

As illustrated most clearly in'Fig. 4 of the drawings, the plates of the conveyor belt are formed to have a horizontal portion l6 of a sub stantial width, upwardly sloping sides I] at each edge thereof and depending marginal flanges l8.

Means are provided for heating and thereby annealing the metal turnings or shavings as they are'transported by'the' conveyor belt and comprise a furnace or heater generally designated I8, which may be fired by any suitable means such as gas, oil or other suitable fuel. The side edges of the furnace are provided with upwardly opening troughs or channels 20 which are filled with sand 2| or other refractory mate rial of the general character of sand, such as comminuted fire brick or the like and through which the depending flanges l8 pass so as to provide a fire seal at the edges of the belt.

A chute or hopper 22 is provided at the end of the conveyor belt adjacent to the furnace I9 for receiving the heated or annealed material as it is discharged from the conveyor belt and feed the same to a pair of vertically spaced gro'user rolls 23. The rolls 23 are provided with a plurality of teeth 24 projecting from their respective surfaces for drawing the annealed shavings from the hopper 22 and packing the same therebetween and feeding the packed turnings into a compress which comprises a plurality of pairs of spaced rollers and which in the present illustration are shown as being three pairs 25, 26 and 21. The compress rolls and the grouser rolls are journaled upon and between side frames 28 and 29 and" their shafts protrude'therefrom to receive rigidly keyed driving gears 30, 3| and 32 respectively, gears being provided at both sides of the framework for equalizing the driving forces. Idler gears 32A are provided between the compress gears for securing the same direction of rotation for all of the compressing rolls. As illustrated most clearly in Fig. 1 of the drawings, the rolls 25, 26 and 21 graduate in diameter so that the space between each pair becomes progressively smaller.

Means are provided for driving the conveyor belt, grouser rolls and compressing rollers and comprise an electric motor 33, a suitable gear reduction and clutch mechanism 34 directly connected to the motor and a drive shaft 35 connecting the gear box directly to the lower grouser roller shaft. The shaft 35 carries a sprocket 36A keyed thereto at one side of the machine and a similar sprocket 36 at the opposite side, which sprockets carry and drive chains 3! and 38, which engage sprocket wheels 39 and 40 respectively rigidly keyed to the shaft H.

The shaft supporting the lower grouser roll 23 at each side of the machine has gears 41 keyed thereto which drive idlers 43, which idlers mesh with the compress gears 30. The grouser roller gears also engage and drive a pair of idler gears 45, two of which are illustrated in Fig. 2, which in turn mesh with gears 45 and 41 rigidly keyed to the shaft which supports the upper grouser roller 23.

A receiving table for the compressed material is provided in the form of an endless conveyor belt 48, which is horizontally supported on journaled rolls 49 and 50 at opposite ends thereof, the roll 49 being journaled in brackets 5! secured to the side frames of the compress and the roll 50 being supported on suitable framework 52.

Means are provided for severing or cutting off billets of the rigidly compacted material and comprise in the illustration shown, a pair of cutting torches 53 and 54 mounted on a horizontally movable frame, which is actuated to travel at the same rate of speed as the mass of compacted material by a rack and pinion drive 55. It will be understood, however, that any other suitable means such as a hot saw may be used for severing these billets.

In the operation of this device, a tangled mass of metal turnings or shavings is piled on the conveyor belt 5, which is timed to travel at such a rate of speed with respect to the heat of the furnace [9 that the passage of the material through said furnace will heat the metal turnings sufiiciently to anneal them, it being understood that it is intended for this machine to have continuous operation.

The annealed mass of material is discharged from the conveyor belt into the chute or hopper 22, which is inclined so that gravity will tend to force the mass into contact with the teeth 24 of the grouser rollers 23. Rotation of the grouser rollers will drag and pack the annealed material therebetween and discharge it to the compress rollers 25, 26 and 21, which are arranged and positioned to have progressively smaller space between each successive pair, whereby the annealed shavings or turnings will be compacted into a rigid mass, indicated at 56 in Fig. 2.

As the compacted mass is discharged from the compress onto the conveyor 48, suitably sized billets are severed by means of the cutting torches 53 and 54 which are arranged from the rack and pinion gear 55 to travel at the same rate of speed as the mass 56 is travelling as it is being discharged from the compress.

Filler blocks 51 are provided between the pairs of compress rollers so that the material will be guided to the next pair of rollersand combined filler blocks and strippers 58 are provided between the grouser rollers and the first pair of compress rollers for insuring the removal of the shavings or turnings from the grouser roller teeth and guiding the removed material to the first pair of compression rollers.

As shown in Fig. 5 of the drawings, the compression rollers 59 and 63 may, as an optional arrangement, be formed so that one roller presents a channel which is formed by side flanges GI and the companion roller fits between these side flanges.

Although but one specific embodiment and one modification of this invention have been herein shown and described, it will be understood that numerous details of the constructions shown may be altered or omitted without departing from the spirit of this invention as defined by the following claims.

We claim:

1. A machine for compacting metal shavings or turnings, comprising a furnace, a continuous conveyor belt extending through said furnace for carrying the metal turnings into, through and out of said furnace, a chute for receiving said turnings when discharged by said belt, a pair of spaced grouser rollers for receiving the turnings from said chute, and a plurality of pairs of compression rolls with the spacings reduced between each successive pair for diminishing the bulk of said turnings and compressing the same into a rigid mass.

2. A machine for compacting metal shavings or turnings, comprising a furnace, a continuous conveyor belt extending through said furnace for carrying the metal turnings into, through and out of said furnace, a chute for receiving said turnings when discharged by said belt, a pair of spaced grouser rollers for receiving the turnings from said chute, a plurality of pairs of compression rolls with the spacings reduced between each successive pair for diminishing the bulk of said turnings and compressing the same into a rigid mass, and means for severing billets from such rigid mass. 1

3. A machine as defined in claim 1, in which the marginal edges of the conveyor belt are disposed transversely to the plane of the load carrying surface thereof, troughs in said furnace for receiving such transversely disposed edges, and refractory material in said troughs for sealing saidbelt edges.

i. In a machine for compacting metal turnings and the like, a plurality of pairs of compressing rolls arranged with successively decreasing spaces between the surfaces of each pair, and a pair of toothed grouser rolls for feeding the turnings to said compressing rolls, the surface speed of said grouser rolls being greater than the surface speed of the first pair of compresing rolls fed thereby, whereby the turning will be compacted during the feeding thereof.

JOHN G. MARONEY. JACK I. WILLFONG. 

